Mr. Scraggs

Phillips, Henry Wallace, 1869-1930Project Gutenberg · United StatesDec 2019

2.8

Word count: 169K words
Chapters: 17

Summary

Project Gutenberg was the first provider of free electronic books, or eBooks. Michael Hart, founder of Project Gutenberg, invented eBooks in 1971 and his memory continues to inspire the creation of eBooks and related technologies today.Mr. Scraggs by Henry Wallace PhillipsAuthor: Phillips, Henry Wallace, 1869-1930,Language: English, Class: PS: Language and Literatures: American and Canadian literature, Release Date: Apr 1, 2004

Editor's review

Mr. Scraggs is an English novel by Henry Wallace Phillips, digitized by Project Gutenberg and now in the public domain. Its value lies first in availability: readers can read this early American popular fiction without charge and use it to observe how American novels of the early twentieth century handled characterization and humor. Phillips often depicts vividly drawn ordinary people in a light narrative tone, and the title character is himself a comic figure; while reading, watch for the teasing irony in dialogue and scene. As a public-domain e-book, it is set mainly as plain text, without modern annotation or introduction, so it suits readers who already have some English reading ability and are willing to look up background on their own. If you are gathering material on American popular literature or the development of early e-books, this can serve as a sample; if you are simply looking for a modern novel with a tight plot, adjust your expectations.

Who it's for

A good fit for

Readers with some English who want to read early American popular fiction for free
Researchers collecting material on Project Gutenberg and early e-book texts
Readers who enjoy light, humorous character sketches and do not mind an unannotated text
Self-learners who need public-domain English materials for language practice

Not a good fit for

Readers who want a modern edition with detailed annotation
Beginners who still find English reading difficult and need Chinese comparison or a guide
Readers of popular fiction who want strong plotting and contemporary narrative pace

Reading tips

Read the first two chapters to see whether the narrative pace and vocabulary suit you before continuing.
Mark unfamiliar expressions and look them up after finishing a chapter, so as not to interrupt reading.
For language study, choose a passage of dialogue for reading aloud or retelling.
After finishing, look up the author Phillips’s life and the context of American popular literature of the period to better understand the text.

About the publisher

Project Gutenberg United States · Founded in 1971

Project Gutenberg is a digital publishing project focused on public-domain ebooks. Its publishing direction centers on classic literary works whose copyright has expired, covering genres such as poetry, drama, fiction, and epic. Representative books include Lyrical Ballads by Wordsworth and Coleridge, Proust's Du côté de chez Swann, Shakespeare's Macbeth and The Complete Works of William Shakespeare, Homer's The Iliad, Dante's La Divina Comèdia: Purgatòri, Cervantes's The History of Don Quixote, Volume 2, and Grahame's The Wind in the Willows. Its author resources consist mainly of classic Western writers such as Wordsworth, Proust, Shakespeare, Homer, Dante, Cervantes, Grahame, and Tolstoy. Its publishing feature is the provision of freely accessible ebooks in EPUB and Kindle formats; it is not a traditional publisher, and publicly available information is limited.

FAQ

Is this book in Chinese or English?

The text is in English, released as an e-book by Project Gutenberg. There is no Chinese translation or annotation, so readers need some English reading ability.

Why is there a note about Project Gutenberg at the front?

That note is Project Gutenberg’s standard preface, explaining the project’s origins and its idea of free e-books. It is not part of the novel itself and can be skipped to go straight to the story.

Is this book suitable for learning English?

It can be used as extensive reading material, but the text was published long ago, so some vocabulary and sentence patterns differ from modern English, and there are no vocabulary notes. It suits readers with some foundation who want to get a sense of the text.

Comments

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About the author

Phillips, Henry Wallace, 1869-1930 Author

Public biographical information on Henry Wallace Phillips (1869–1930) remains limited, and his writing centers mainly on the American West. Seven of his works are held here, including Red Saunders: His Adventures West & East, Plain Mary Smith: A Romance of Red Saunders, and The Mascot of Sweet Briar Gulch, most of which follow the character Red Saunders and his Western adventures in a popular-fiction narrative mode. Other short and fable-like works, such as Red Saunders' Pets and Other Critters, Mr. Scraggs, and Fables for the Times, are light and humorous in tone, dealing with frontier life as well as social satire. On the whole, his writing is known for its popular and comic character and offers readers insight into American Western popular literature of the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries.